Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I read a post over at Gabby She Wrote today,and she said something that struck me,about how a smile can make a huge difference to a stranger.

Living in a small town,I'm used to smiling and greeting aloud,most people in town.Even strangers that pass through here,I greet.That's just the way I was brought up.When I go to a city,or even just a town that's about twice the size of my town,it strikes me how people don't greet each other on the street,and they certainly don't smile at one another.

I understand that if you live in a place like,say,New York,or Los Angeles,that people don't know each other,and the other person might be some sort of serial killer or something,but it is still quite sad to me.

My whole,actual point with this is,what pisses me off,beyond belief,is when people in a small town like mine,where everyone knows everyone,can't make the effort to smile at some who greets them.Every morning when I walk to work,I pass this teenage brother and sister waiting for their lift to school.Those little fuckheads will look you straight in the face,and not so much as lift an eyebrow as a greeting,much less say 'hi'.I feel like throwing them with one of the rotten avocado's in my fridge.

{Like you read in the meme last week,I get offended very easily.But I don't care.Not smiling at someone who smiles at you,and says 'hi',is just plain rude.It's not like I want to abduct the little shits}

9 Comments:

I live in London and smiling at someone in public is seen as breaking the Unwritten Rules of The London Underground and Beyond! They'd think you were 1. A stalker/weirdo 2. Interested in them 3. A cult recruiter

There are rarely occasions when Londoners smile at each other. It's only when something special happens like a snow blizzard (which we got this year, first time in 18 years) and people are playing with snow in the streets or when there is a street carnival or something. Otherwise it's earphones in, iPod out and newspaper up, even when we're two inches away from each other on a crowded tube carriage (smiling in this situation would be ultra weird!!).

But in a small town, I agree, it's rude not to smile back and say hi. I wouldn't bother with them next time. They could've at least managed a nod of the head in reply.

sounds like these "fuckheads" lol, just weren't taught any better by their parents. very sad because they will no doubt pass this on to their own kids.

i grew up in NY and FL and always smiled at people. like you, it's what i was taught from a young age. it was called being polite to people. i live in a military town now and with a deployed husband in the redzone, i sure wish people smiled at me more.. would make a big difference in my days!!

I know what you mean though. I'm from a small town in North Carolina and thats how it was too. Then I moved to just south of DC and if you smiled at someone it was like you were growing a horn outta your head!

oh those stupid sulky teenagers!!! i live in an area that is full of non-smilers (that is the big city life, for sure!).

and we have lots of hoity toity rich clients that we HAVE to smile at, and they generally don't make eye contact or smile back. so rude. but i don't give them my best smiles. those ones are saved for the good people in my life like YOU! :)